The book of Hebrews

BobRyan said:

In the Bible "all scripture is given by inspiration from God AND is to be used for doctrine" 2 Tim 3:16.

Heb 5 and 6 point to the basics of "the Gospel" as the milk. And then the advanced topics presented by Paul in Heb 7,8,9,10 as "the meat".

Bible details matter.



then we agree on something.

Nice.





Agreed - and Heb 6 details what those gospel "basics" are --

The "milk" is:

"Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits"


But the meat is this - the work of Christ as high priest in heaven as detailed in Heb 7,8,9,10

Paul is doing that very thing - moving on from the milk topics to the meat topics in the book of Hebrews. We can stay in the book, in context and follow the point as written in the letter to the Hebrews. It's all right there.

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moving on from the milk topics to the meat topics in the book of Hebrews. We can stay in the book, in context and follow the point as written in the letter to the Hebrews. It's all right there.

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Without a new heart that would be quite impossible to follow. But with God all things are possible. Should He be willing.

Hawkins said:

From the theological point of view, it's more likely Paul's content re-written. It is reasonable for Paul to write it anonymously as Paul offended the Jews outside Palestine area, though he ever had a good name in the circle of Pharisees before he's converted. He's under the direct command of the Great Sanhedrin for the persecution of Christians while his teacher represents a whole school of Pharisaic thoughts. It is only proper for him to address the Hebrews at that theological level.

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Thank you, but it’s not for debate about the author ( BobRyan has been admonished for that so following his example isn’t the topic of this thread.)

~Cassia~ said:

The book of Hebrews I believe to be written by Priscilla, besides … (edit: an unanswerable question that is not open to debate, but just as a sidetone) The contrast with Paul is in the equalitarian terms in an almost floral pictorial relating to Christ and the church. Chapter 4 offers equality for all before God. The foundation of the city they were looking forward to was built on a promise, an analogy in Paul’s writings but never exemplified. The readers were Essenes that would have understood angel’s significance in opposition to the temple ways, which don’t seem to have been an eyewitness testimony to the content. They expected 2 lines of Messiah, one a king, the other a priest, but the book joins them together in melchezedec. No child-parent content that Paul displays. Priscilla has many active parts in the forming of the church and a careful examination of the text would have her at the right place at the right time. Of course without a signature who knows, but she would also be most likely to have left her named off because of gaining acceptability, as the customs were then.

Among the Hebrew Christians many still clung to the temple and its ritual. And there were among them teachers who inculcated obedience to the laws in regard to food etc. But the writer of Hebrews warns against these strange teachings FOR IT IS GOOD FOR THE HEART TO BE ESTABLISHED BY GRACE, NOT BY MEATS. No outward observances can sustain the inner life; it's by grace alone, grace that comes from the throne of grace, that the heart must be established.



Our altar is the cross. The Levitical priesthood is entirely different from the new worship. The old priesthood has no part in the sacrifices of the cross and the new worship has no part in the old sacrifices. THE SIN OFFERING, OF WHICH THE BLOOD WAS BROUGHT INTO THE HOLY PLACE BY THE HIGH PRIEST, WAS __not eaten __ BURNT OUTSIDE THE CAMP. The sin-offering leads to seperation and rejection. He was cast out of the city as one made sin for us. Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 13:14 THEREFORE WE BEAR HIS REPROACH.

Outside the camp is in fellowship with Jesus, crucified to the world and in death to sin. He not only provided a sin-offering for us but the new and living Way

Search the scriptures to show thyself approved/propitiated.

Hebrews 1:1-4 Christ greater than prophets and angels

, confirmed in verse 5-14 paying closest attention to what we have heard. First practical warning over the 5 warnings in the book of Hebrews.

tbc

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Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

We’ll hinge here for awhile going back to the old pattern in comparison. Hebrews 8:1-5
We have such a high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.

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The book of Hebrews After washing their hands and feet at the laver, the priests could enter the Holy Place, which was the first room in the tent of the tabernacle. (This is the first room off the courtyard, where the priests were, not the Holiest Place which only the High Priest could enter into.) There were three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place: the menorah, the table of showbread and the golden altar of incense.

The lampstand was the only source of light in the Holy Place. The light shone upon the table of showbread and the altar of incense, enabling the priests to fellowship with God and intercede on behalf of God’s people. Jesus, the true light that gives light to every man came into the world so that mankind could see God and not live in spiritual darkness anymore. John 1:9, John 8:12, John 12:46

The lamp stand had a central branch from which three branches extended from each side, forming a total of seven branches. Seven lamps holding olive oil and wicks stood on top of the branches. Each branch looked like that of an almond tree, containing buds, blossoms and flowers. The priests were instructed to keep the lamps burning continuously.

Jesus is represented by the main branch of the lampstand, and we as believers are represented by the six branches that extend from the original branch. Having believed, we are now living as children of light Ephesians 5:8 who draw our source of light from Jesus, the true light.

Jesus calls us ‘the light of the world’ and commands us to ‘let your light so shine before mankind’, that they may ‘see your good deeds’ and 'praise your Father in heaven'. Matthew 5:14-16

The branches also serve as a picture of abiding in Jesus. Our relationship with him: “I am the vine, you are the branches , apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

The lamp stand was made of pure gold (not gold plated) having seven branches. Pure gold is a representation of the deity and perfection of Jesus Christ, and seven is the number of earthly completeness in the Bible, signifying that the believer is made complete by the perfection of Christ.

* When we abide in Him our lamp stays lit. When we abide in Him we have no fear of our lamp stand being removed. *

1. Sorry I don’t know where all those numbers came from but I’m not gonna rewrite it all I tried to get rid of them but they seem off the grid somehow, so I can’t even erase them ... :1234:
2. 
   
3. The table of showbread was a small table made of acacia wood and overlaid with pure gold. It stood on the right side of the Holy Place across from the lampstand and held 12 loaves of bread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. The priests baked the bread with fine four and it remained on the table before the Lord for a week; every Sabbath day the priests would remove it and eat it in the Holy Place, then put fresh bread on the table. Only priests could eat the bread, and it could only be eaten in the Holy Place, because it was holy.
4. Showbread also was called “bread of the presence” because it was to be always in the Lord’s presence.
5. The table and the bread were a picture of God’s willingness to fellowship and communion (literally speaking, sharing something in common) with mankind. It was like an invitation to share a meal, an extension of friendship. Eating together often is an act of fellowship. God was willing for man to enter into His presence to fellowship with Him, and this invitation was always open.
6. Jesus exemplified this when He ate with tax collectors, prostitutes and the sinners of Jewish society. But this was more than just a gesture of friendship on earth. Jesus came to call sinners to Him, make them right with God, so that they could enjoy everlasting fellowship with God.
7. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. John 6:35, John 6:49-50
8. God so desires our fellowship that He was willing to come to earth from heaven as our ‘bread of life’ that becomes our ‘daily bread’ ; to give eternal life to all those who would partake in it.
9. At Jesus’ last Passover meal with His disciples,
10. Jesus described Himself as bread again:
11. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ?Take and eat; this is my body.Matthew 26:26
12. Jesus’ broken body is our only access to fellowship with God.
13. Today, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or communion, to remember this important truth. And today, as in the day of Moses’ tabernacle, God still desires to have fellowship and sit down for a feast with His people.
14. Revelations 3:20-21

Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, …………………………………………………..just as ……….. I myself conquered …….. and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience

[the outline is from a link on the other post that we’re working from]

just as ….. I Myself conquered …….. and sat down with My Father on His throne….I will give a place with Me on My throne …. to the one who conquers

Hebrews 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience

Just-as-Christ-conquered. How did He conquer? He-learned-obedience. How, then, is it possible to conquer with obedience?

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It can only be as we abide in Him and Him in us that such a privilege is granted. Christ is the mediator of the soul and His blood is always available to cleanse the conscience so that we can begin anew with a clean slate each time we go to Him.

Grace renews and is available at the throne as we are subject to bringing our thoughts captive to Christ for the renewing of our minds. That’s the outward expression of being in Christ, while the Holy Spirit has grace being built into us to sustain our Christian life within.

But here’s the thing … obedience. It was the one thing that Jesus had to learn. He learned how to bring the human nature into alignment with the God nature.

Obedience brought Him to the position of High Priest so that He could affect His perfection into us. Hebrews 5:8-9

We, as children of God, are on that same path, as was He in His earthly life, to learning obedience …. according to His standards.

Learning is our new, better and living way.

His perfection was revealed in His own life, thru the trials that He endured. It perfected Him forevermore. Hebrews 7:28


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Consider Him who endured

He came to restore to us the life of God that we had lost. That alone is our salvation. The Father wrought out in the Son the perfect human character that fully united the human will with the divine nature.

Think about that! He spent His earthly lifetime perfecting that!

When He had been perfected, in humility, submission and surrender to God alone, (which is also mankind’s duty and blessedness Romans 12:1-3) He became the ‘author of eternal salvation’ to all those who now obey Him in following His example of perfection through suffering.

In His perfect human nature He can communicate with each one of us, to lift us into spiritual reality, into God’s will, into fellowship and into His presence. The Way that He leads is the living way which He perfected.

The path that Christ founded, and opened to us and in which He walked, is the path of obedience ~ as the path to God. That’s the thing to animate us, with God’s own Spirit, to obedience. That’s why He, the perfected one, can alone be our salvation. Hebrews 10:14, Hebrews 12:2 His death was our death, but His life is our life too. Hebrews 9:11, Hebrews 13:21

God has us covered but we still have our parts to play in salvation. Embrace the holy Law of God, recognize the sinful condition before the law of the Spirit, and come boldly before the throne of grace to obtain the mercy we need to live it out Hebrews 4:15

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself and forgotten to show from the courtyard the diagram of Christ portrayed therein. The deep truths found within the pictures are the substance of eternity, but keep in mind that these are elementary things that have passed, shadows of the things to come, and that eventually this epistle’s goal is to have us meet Christ outside the camp. Discernment is in keeping the spiritual substance beyond the shadowy letters that are left behind.

Scripture is made up of the seen and the unseen things. 2 Corinthians 4:18 what can be seen is temporary and what can be seen with spiritual eyes is eternal. Scripture consists of the body which is the visible letter, the soul which is the morals found within it, and the spirit which has something of the heavenly within it. They serve as the copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary.

The one essential way to Christ and therefore to the Father is entering in thru the proper gate. The wilderness tabernacle was both exclusive and inclusive. It excluded all who would not come in the one and only gate but included all who came by the prescribed way.

Christ has obtained for us what we could never attain to and had kept us excluded; His is the only entrance into inclusiveness and that's boldly entering in by His provided way by admission of the need for The Saviour. One tree grafted in and the culmination of the two becoming one.

The specific layout of the tabernacle and its courtyard is significant because it illustrates God’s prescribed way for mankind to approach Him.

The whole compound was surrounded by a high fence with only one entrance. A person had to enter through the one gate. Upon entering the gate, they would encounter the brazen altar, present their offering, and then the priests would make atonement and intercession for them in the tent of meetings.

This formula informed the Israelites that they could only come to God in the way He prescribed. There was no other way. God used the Old Testament tabernacle to tell us that we, too, must come to Him only through the way He has provided for us, Jesus Christ.

There was only one gate by which people could enter into the tabernacle courtyard. The gate was covered by a curtain or screen made of finely twisted linen in blue, purple and scarlet. That one and only gate represents Christ as the only way through which one can fellowship with God and worship Him.

John 14:6
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 10:9
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.
Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The first thing that one saw upon coming through the gate was the brazen altar, which served as a reminder of mankind’s sinfulness and the need for a blood sacrifice to restore fellowship with God. Those who did not see the errors of their ways and look upon God’s sacrifice to save were not entering this ‘narrow way.’

Hebrews 10
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

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So, there we have it. How do we move beyond the elementary things like laying on of hands and find the equivalent in the Holy Spirit moving on outside the camp? In Acts of the Apostles 8.

Concluding this thread with this reminder:

God named the light DAY and He named the darkness NIGHT. God also named mankind ADAM to include male and female. He named EARTH and SEAS as well as the rivers flowing out of Eden.

Adam male, named the animals and Adam male, after the fall, named Eve to separate Adam female, from Adam male. That’s more or less the history of the naming of creation.

So what the fall accomplished basically was what the wise Solomon suggested with the baby that two women claimed to be the parent of. ADAM, male and female were split in two.

Separated Adam = male and female entities. Now the new Adam, Christ, seeks to return the split apart humans to become one with Him. His representation as the male requires the joining of the female counterpart, which is the church, to Him.

Because that’s not accomplished in the law, minor children are the representatives. By grace, freedom from the law, as the matured teaching, to be anything but fully in either …. is a mixture of law/grace. that straddles both covenants.

That’s precisely what the book of Hebrews lists as the dangers of falling back to a covenant not associated with the new high priest for the saving of our souls.

After hinging on chapter 8 for way too long .....

The power of Christ’s blood to open the way into the Holiest Place.


The blood that obtained eternal redemption belonged to Him who is our kinsman redeemer. The blood of the eternal covenant that God brought Lord Jesus from the dead is the power of resurrection. Thru His blood He cleansed the heavenly things themselves and entered the Holiest on our behalf.

Where blood is mentioned it is in connection to resurrection and the entrance into heaven as it works in the power of endless life. As the Holy Spirit reveals to the soul the heavenly power, ministered by our high priest our minister of the heavenly sanctuary, that we can see how the power of that sprinkled on us from heaven now gives at once a real actual living access into the Presence of God.

He has purchased us with His own blood, no longer to be on the slave-block of the world, the victory over the enemy, the reconciliation and the justification came thru it, cleansing and perfecting the conscience.

Our conscience tells us who we are concerning integrity vs falsehood. It is the sanctification in reconciliation. The power of the blood that brought Christ into heaven is the same power that cleanses the conscience to release the heart from stone. The sword of truth cutting between soul and spirit.

The blood communicates an effective mighty, divine cleansing, full of heavenly life and energy. The blessings are victory of sins, perfect obedience in access to Abba. His covenant promises are pardon and peace in God’s forgetting of sin as well as purity and power in having the law of life into the heart and most importantly the Presence of God set open to us. Our reasonable service is to serve there.

Jipsah said:

Because Ellen White said so.

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lol in a non-irreverent manner.